A Week of MD3

Today will be a week of MD3; all I can say is it is overwhelming. We have Pharmacology 8 AM - 10 AM, Microbiology 10 AM – 12 AM, Lunch Noon – 1 PM, Psychology - 1 PM to 3 PM, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays we have Psychology from 3 PM – 5 PM. On Thursdays we have Research Methods from 3-5 in the afternoon, and on Fridays we have Pathology lab at the same time. We have so many subjects, and we don’t have time to sleep. MD3 is known to be the hardest semester by most of the SJSM alumni.

Pharmacology and Pathology is all about pathways for different reactions, for different drugs, and for different pathologies. Psychology is not so bad, it’s very relaxing. However, Microbiology is all about memorization. There is a tremendous number of things we have to memorize. We have to memorize many bacterias, what toxins they produce, their genus groups, the infection they caused, the symptoms they cause, and it goes on and on.

In Microbiology, if you walked in you can figure out right away that it’s not the best class to be in. Half the student body doesn’t even show up. And for the students who do show up, they either study something else, talking, passing notes, or even sleeping. The reason they do this is not because of the subject, the subject is interesting, but it’s basically do to the teacher. The teacher seems like a nice Physician from India, but he literally reads from the slides. The previous teacher resigned and the new Microbiology teacher has a hard time coming to Bonaire due to the island’s poor efficiency of immigration process. I asked the dean about the new teacher and he told me, to study as best I can, because SJSM did all they can, they already have someone, but Bonaire’s immigration office is the problem. Therefore, until the new teacher comes the substitute teacher will have to manage the class. In my honest opinion, Microbiology can be self-taught but when a teacher explains it then it’s easier to memorize it.